Hecht's jersey collection is a sign of respect

Saskatchewan Roughriders safety Jeff Hecht is about to be reminded of his jersey collection.

It consists entirely of valued items autographed by Darian Durant, Nik Lewis and Anthony Calvillo — three employees of the Montreal Alouettes, who are to oppose Saskatchewan in Thursday’s CFL regular-season opener.

Durant (a.k.a. Doubles) spent his first 11 CFL seasons with the Roughriders before being traded to Montreal in January. One of his prime targets will be Lewis, a future Hall of Fame slotback. Calvillo, a legendary Alouettes passer and a Hall of Famer, is now the team’s quarterbacks coach.

“I was fortunate enough to play with Doubles last year and I maybe saw that this was coming and he was maybe moving on, so I ended up getting a signed jersey from him to add to my collection,” Hecht said on Tuesday.

“I told him it’s very rare company, because it’s guys who I’ve played with who I consider the .01-percenters. I have an Anthony Calvillo jersey and a Nik Lewis jersey and now a Darian Durant jersey. Those are the three guys who I’ve shared the field with who are afforded a specific platform or a space on the totem pole for me as far as my respect goes.”

Hecht made his CFL debut with the Calvillo-led Alouettes in 2011 before spending the next 4 1/2 seasons with Calgary, where Lewis once starred. In mid-August of 2016, Hecht was traded to Saskatchewan and his already-considerable appreciation for Durant was enhanced.

“It’s his longevity and his consistency,” Hecht said. “I’m going into Year 7, and that’s maybe not as long as some guys, but I understand that in a job where the average career length is 2.1 years or whatever it is now, you can’t just get lucky and play for that long.

“You respect anybody who stays around — someone like Darian, and (Roughriders quarterback) Kevin Glenn now. I was with Anthony Calvillo in 2011 when he was breaking all the records. For a guy to play his best football in what many people are ignorantly deeming the twilight of their career is something that kind of commands respect across the room.”

Hecht, for his part, commands respect from Riders head coach, general manager and vice-president of football operations Chris Jones.

“He is like a coach on the field,” Jones said. “He’s got that real dry personality. One of the coaches will make a mistake drawing something on the board and he never misses it. It’s pretty fun having him in the meetings.”

When advised that Jones had likened him to a coach, Hecht appreciated the compliment.

“It’s nice,” he said. “That’s the way I approach the game. If you want to go back and look at the combine statistics from when I was at (the evaluation camp), you realize that I’ve been in the league seven years not specifically because I can run and jump and react.

“I’m a cerebral player. I pride myself in being the smartest guy in the room. I’m constantly trying to find ways to increase my cerebral abilities in football because you’re very limited to your physical abilities — genetics, height, whatever. As far as learning the game, the capacity of your mind is unlimited.

“There’s no computer on Earth that can hold as much information as your brain. That’s something I can control and something that I can use to my advantage.”

That mindset quickly impressed Jones, who gave Hecht some starts in the defensive backfield last year. This season, Hecht and fellow national Mike Edem are both expected to see significant action at safety.

“Last year, I had an opportunity to play on defence, which I haven’t had really since my rookie year in Montreal,” Hecht said. “That’s a big plus.

“I know my role as a special-teams player, but every player wants to play. If you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t want to play more, then this is not the job for you. Everybody wants to have the opportunity because everybody wants to be on the field when it counts.”

Hecht expects to be on the field for many years to come.

“I have a lot of football left in me,” the 31-year-old Saint Mary’s Huskies product said. “It’s just a matter of if somebody wants me.

“It’s nice to start here at the beginning of the season rather than be plugged in, as far as last year, halfway through the sinking ship, essentially. When I got here last year, we were out of the playoffs, and as of today we’re tied for first place. It’s nice to be here in the beginning and then we can get stuff going in the right direction from Week 1 rather than Week 8.”

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